Weight: 2.5 pounds

This certified religious icon is made in a traditional Byzantine style (egg tempera painted over gold leaf, applied to a wooden panel), practiced between the third and thirteenth centuries. The icon is made the winter of 2010 in Bulgaria and is signed by the artist. The wooden panel used is a 100-year-old pine tree found in an old house in Ledenik, village located nearby the city of Veliko Turnovo (See interesting facts below).

The way the icon hangs is unique and was practiced in ancient times. On the back of the icon a small hole is carved. Then a steel cord is mounted to hold it.

  Artists: Milcho Timov

Interesting facts:

The artists live in the historical city of Veliko Turnovo located in north central Bulgaria, often referred to as the "City of the Tsars." Veliko Turnovo is famous as the historical capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire, with its unique architecture and many small, old villages surrounding close by. In these small and old mountain villages, the artists find different types of old wood, used for making these unique icons.

Biblical facts:

Everything we know about the husband of Mary and the foster father of Jesus comes from Scripture and that has seemed too little for those who made up legends about him. We know he was a carpenter, a working man, for the skeptical Nazarenes ask about Jesus, "Is this not the carpenter's son?" (Matthew 13:55). He wasn't rich for when he took Jesus to the Temple to be circumcised and Mary to be purified, he offered the sacrifice of two turtledoves or a pair of pigeons, allowed only for those who could not afford a lamb (Luke 2:24).